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Re: Changing semantics via ARIA Role

for

From: Joseph Sherman
Date: Sep 15, 2015 10:00AM

This Working Draft specification<http://www.w3.org/TR/html-aria/>; defines the web developer rules (author conformance requirements) for the use of [wai-aria-1.1] attributes on [HTML51] elements. It also defines requirements for Conformance Checking tools.

Web developers MAY use the ARIA role and aria-* attributes on HTML elements<http://www.w3.org/TR/html/index.html#elements-1>;, in accordance with the requirements described in [wai-aria-1.1<http://www.w3.org/TR/html-aria/#bib-wai-aria-1.1>;], except where these conflict with the strong native semantics<http://www.w3.org/TR/html/infrastructure.html#strong-native-semantics>; or are equal to the default implicit ARIA semantics<http://www.w3.org/TR/html/infrastructure.html#default-implicit-aria-semantics>; of a given HTML element. These constraints, are intended to prevent developers from making assistive technology products report nonsensical user interface information (UI) that does not represent the actual UI of the document.

Web developers MUST NOT use the ARIA role and aria-* attributes in a manner that conflicts with the semantics described in the Document conformance requirements for use of ARIA attributes in HTML<http://www.w3.org/TR/html-aria/#docconformance>; table. Web developers SHOULD NOT set the ARIA role and aria-* attributes to values that match the default implicit ARIA semantics defined in the table.





http://www.w3.org/TR/html-aria/





Joseph Sherman
Accessibility Specialist
CUNY Computing & Information Services
395 Hudson St 6FL, 6-236
646-664-2167| <EMAIL REMOVED> <mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> >


-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Dennis Deacon
Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2015 11:31 AM
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: [WebAIM] Changing semantics via ARIA Role



I understand that changing an element's role is generally frowned upon. An example would be placing role="link" on a div (just use a link). Are there acceptable exceptions to this (say role="button" on a link)?



I ask because general guidance seems to bend on this inferred hard & fast rule.



Thanks in advance.



--

Dennis Deacon

Email: <EMAIL REMOVED> <mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> >

Website/Portfolio: dennisdeacon.com

Blog: dennisdeacon.com/blog

LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/dennisdeacon